Slovnaft falls to €30m Q3 net loss; petchem revenue down 22%

LONDON (ICIS)--Slovnaft suffered a third-quarter net loss of €30m ($41.1m), with petrochemical sales revenue falling 22% year on year to €134m, the Slovak company said on Tuesday.

The loss compares with a net profit of €38m in the same quarter a year ago, it added.

“It seems that persisting financing problems in European countries resulted in decreasing demand and pessimistic consumers’ sentiment with a negative impact on companies’ results,” said Slovnaft CEO Oszkar Vilagi.

Overall revenue of Slovnaft, also a refiner, increased 29% to €1.3bn, while the operating result was a loss of €37m against an operating profit of €49m in the third quarter of last year.

“In the third quarter of 2011, the petrochemical integrated margin averaged €213/tonne, showing a decreasing trend compared to both Q3 2010 [against which it fell 43%] and Q2 2011 [against which it fell 39%],” Slovnaft said.

“The integrated margin decrease was influenced mainly by the low level of quoted polymer prices during Q3 2011,” it added.

Slovnaft is owned by Hungary’s MOL, which reported its own third-quarter results earlier on Tuesday.